All Public Power Customers Hit by Hurricane Michael Have Power Back

The Florida Municipal Electric Association (FMEA) reported on Tuesday that all Floridians with public power who were impacted by Hurricane Michael earlier this month have had their power restored.

“At peak, more than 400,000 customers in the region were without power with nearly 122,000 of them from five Florida public power communities – Tallahassee, Havana, Quincy, Chattahoochee and Blountstown,” FMEA noted on Tuesday. “Tallahassee had more than 113,000, or 95 percent, of its customers out and lost nearly 60 percent of its transmission. Havana, Quincy, Chattahoochee and Blountstown were left 100 percent in the dark.

“Crews from these communities, working alongside mutual aid crews from all over the state and country, immediately began the process of restoring power as soon as it was safe. For the third Atlantic hurricane season in a row, FMEA activated the American Public Power Association mutual aid network and put out a long-range call for mutual aid assistance several days before the storm made landfall. More than 600 power restoration personnel from 16 states and more than 80 utilities came to help restore power and rebuild the electric grid in the affected communities,” FMEA continued.

Amy Zubaly, the executive director of FMEA, weighed in on the matter.

“Thousands of peoples’ lives were forever changed on October 10 and it will take some time to fully rebuild the communities that bore the full brunt of Michael’s force. FMEA extends our heartfelt appreciation to everyone that reached out to help us and our neighbors, especially to all the lineworkers who suffered through some difficult situations to come to our aid and help restore power to our communities. Words cannot describe how incredibly grateful we are,” said Zubaly.

FMEA represents 34 public power communities across the Sunshine State which provide power to more than 3 million residential and business customers.